A photo of a football journalist from Italy is viral online falsely identifying him as the gunman that fired multiple shots at former United States President Donald Trump's outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday in an apparent assassination attempt.
Trump suffered an injury to his right ear but survived the attempt after he was escorted by a swarm of US Secret Service agents and huddled into a car. One person in the crowd was reported to have been killed while two others were reported to be injured. The gunman, whose identity the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not revealed yet, was shot dead by US Secret Service snipers. The incident has sent shockwaves around the world and is seen as a major security lapse on part of the Secret Service.
The incident has sparked a wave of disinformation originating on X (formerly Twitter) around the identity of the gunman.
BOOM found that the man in the photograph is Marco Violi, a football commentator. Violi also took to his official Instagram profile to clarify that he is not the shooter wrongly identified as one Mark Violets.
US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi recently issued a statement mentioning that a suspected shooter fired multiple shots at Republican leader Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Guglielmi also stated that US Secret Service officers present at the spot killed the gunman after he shot the ex-US president from an elevated position from outside the rally venue. One of the spectators was killed, and two others were critically injured, the statement added.
Several verified X handles posted the image and wrote, "Reports the Trump shooter identified as Mark Violets, a well known antifa extremist. He reportedly uploaded a video on YouTube before the attack titled "justice was coming." He was killed by shortly after shooting at Trump. At least 2 dead." (sic.)
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
News outlet Republic TV also published an article misidentifying the same person as the "suspected shooter".
Click here to view an archive of the article published on July 14, 2024.
The photo is also circulating on Facebook with a similar false claim.
Click here to view one such post.
Fact Check
BOOM scanned through the false posts and found replies from other social media users identifying the person as an Italian journalist Marco Violi.
We then ran a keyword search related to Marco Violi and came across Violi's official Instagram profile where he issued a clarification about the claims misidentifying him as the gunman.
Click here to view the post.
In his post, Violi wrote in Italian, "I strongly deny being involved in this situation. I’ve been woken up in the middle of the night (2am Italy to be precise) by the numerous notifications I’ve received on Instagram and X. I'm in Italy, I'm in Rome and I didn't have the slightest idea what happened except seeing Sky TG 24 in Italy that I'm still following. The news circulating on my account is totally baseless and organised by a group of haters that have been ruining my life since 2018, including settlements at my home, pictures of my intercom and my gate."
He further wrote, "I have nothing else to add. On Monday I will be filing a complaint against the X accounts that invented this fake news and all the news headlines that spread the fake news. Being a journalist since 2006, I know very well that you need to verify all sources before you bump a supposed monster on the front page. I have nothing else to add. I ask politely to leave me alone because I have been a victim of all this since 2018 and there is also a criminal proceeding against these haters."
We found a video on Violi's YouTube channel where the same mirror and painting seen in the background in the viral photo can be seen in the video.
Below, one can see a comparison between the viral photo of Violi with the photo frame in the background and another video of Violi recording his reaction from the same location.